


cruel are the times (when we are traitors)

by JeanjacketCarf



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, F/M, Gen, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Season 1 Zuko TM, Sokka & Zuko are ride-or-die, Suki Joins the Gaang Early, The Avatar is a cryptid, more than canon typical violence, sokka grows up in the fire nation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25195108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeanjacketCarf/pseuds/JeanjacketCarf
Summary: Just weeks before the birth of his first child, Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe receives a prophecy. He and Kya will produce a child with a great and terrible destiny- to be a powerful bender in a time when that can spell certain death, to find that the Avatar who has been missing for nearly a century, and to somehow bring peace to a world destroyed by war. With this prophecy, the chief makes a desperate decision and changes everything.OrThere's a prophecy, it's not about Sokka, people think it is, and through a series of unfortunate events, when Zuko comes to the South Pole, Sokka is at his side
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Iroh & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Suki (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Not a totally original idea but I thought I'd put my own spin on it  
> The title comes from a line in Macbeth- "cruel are the times when we are traitors and do not know ourselves"

Hakoda was too young to become chief. That’s what everyone in the village said. But these were war times and they had few options so he tried to accept the position humbly and not worry too much about the whispers.

Hakoda, son of Nakhoda, son of Tua, came from a long line of men who had served as chiefs of their village and head chieftains of the Southern Water Tribe Confederation. Chiefs were always elected by a council of elders from a set of eligible candidates based on prowess in battle and hunting. In peace times, chiefs served until they were no longer able to serve, stepping down in old age. For the last hundred years, not a single chief it seemed to Hakoda had lived to retire. The job was like putting a target on your back.

The last chief had been Hakoda’s cousin, Perak, a wise man and a powerful waterbender. He had lead the tribe for many years valiantly only to be stabbed in the back by a treacherous firebender during the last attack by the Southern Raiders. It was the attack that had taken the last of the waterbenders from not only their village but the whole of the South Pole.

When Hakoda took on the role, he had the dubious honor of being the first chief who didn’t need to defend from raiders in his first year in the last fifty years. It seemed that without waterbenders, the Fire Nation no longer wanted anything from them. It was a depressing realization that they had been crushed so thoroughly.

Still, Hakoda hoped to use this respite to rebuild and revive the tribe. In a public ceremony he married his childhood sweetheart, Kya, and encouraged the tribe to continue to believe in love. Kya joked that his urging to get everyone to making babies had not been particularly subtle. She still eagerly collaborated with him on that project. 

When Kya announced her pregnancy, she and Hakoda traveled to the center of the South Pole, where an ancient grove of frozen trees grew, a place where the line between the spirit world and the physical world thinned. They met with a wise woman there to tell them the future of their child. What she said sent ice shooting through Hakoda’s heart.

Both Hakoda and Kya had stripped down to their undergarments in the sweat lodge, Kya’s bulging belly prominent like it never was beneath her parka. He passed his wife the tankard of chilled water, seeing her suffering in the heat. The wise woman was dressed as if she was outdoors, pressing her wrinkled face into the smoke from the fire and breathing in the mixture of burning herbs. She called on the ocean and moon spirits and raised gnarled hands to the heavens. Then she raised her blind eyes to look at them and intoned a prophecy.

“For a child, you shall have a powerful bender. The last waterbender in the South Pole. This child will be instrumental to ending the Hundred Year’s War and bringing the Avatar back to the world.”

Hakoda’s mouth went dry and he turned to his wife, the awe and fear in his heart matching the look in her eyes.

“Are you sure? My child?”

The wise woman nodded. “A dark future awaits your child. One fraught with peril and pain. They must be protected for as long as you are able for they will save the world.”

Hakoda might be forgiven for thinking that when the wise woman spoke of their child, she meant the one Kya was currently pregnant with, not some hypothetical second child. He might also be forgiven for thinking that “they” referred to one child, gender unknown, rather than two. The problem is one can’t make assumptions about prophecies.

When they returned to the village, Kya was only weeks away from giving birth. Hakoda had little time to plan. Afraid to spread the prophecy too widely, he consulted only with Bato, his most trusted friend. They both agreed that the Fire Nation raids had only ended when there were no more sightings of waterbenders in the South Pole. If rumors escaped of another waterbender, a particularly powerful one no less, the Southern Raiders would return and the village warriors would not be enough to stop them. Hakoda and Kya’s child would have to be hidden away somewhere.

Hakoda discussed this conclusion with his wife and mother. Kya agreed with him though it pained her to think about giving up her child at such a young age. After some reflection, Kanna suggested they send the baby to the North.

“I may still have family there,” she said frowning. “Though I have not heard from them in fifty years. There could still be someone willing to take the baby and raise them and if they heard this great destiny for the child…” She trailed off but they understood. If the prophecy was true, this child was the last hope for the whole world. No one would refuse that calling.

So it was decided and Hakoda began the preparations for a long journey. Bato would come with him but just the two of them because a larger contingent would attract too much attention. He packed a sleek schooner with supplies and spent nights awake studying maps. If he concentrated on the task, he wouldn’t have to think about what fate was asking him to give up.

The baby came late. As the winter winds blew, Kya’s health worsened. The stress on top of the long pregnancy was almost too much for her and Hakoda worried that he would lose her too. He spent days and nights at her bedside, praying to the ocean and moon for a safe deliverance. 

When the baby did come, weeks late, he came quickly. The labor done with in a matter of hours. When Kya and their newborn son were resting, Hakoda let his head fall into his hands and sobbed. Fate seemed simultaneously on his side and against him. 

When the moon rose that night, before the elders, they named the boy Sokka after a great lover from their legends. Love, Kya and Hakoda agreed, was the most powerful force in the world and their son would need it to face his destiny.

Barely a month passed before Hakoda and Bato set out on their journey. Clenched in Hakoda’s fist was his mother’s betrothal necklace. She had taken it with her from the North Pole when she fled a loveless marriage and given it to Hakoda so that he could propose to Kya and give it a new life. But as he carried his son onto the ship, Kya rushed after him and gave him back the necklace.

“Kya?” He asked confused.

“It’s Northern craftsmanship,” she said in a rush. “If you go to the capital, they may recognize it. It could help you find Kanna’s family.”

Hakoda looked down at the small trinket in his gloved hand. He looked up and smiled at his wife, bittersweet.

“What did I do to deserve a genius of a wife?” 

She kissed him. “Just come back. That’s how you’ll deserve me. And keep our son safe.”

He kissed her again, savoring the taste of her. “I will. And when I return I’ll carve you a new one.”

Hakoda only managed to keep two out of three promises.

It took six months to sail to the North Pole. Hakoda and Bato evaded patrolling Fire Navy ships and fought off pirates. They weathered a hurricane and disguised themselves as Earth Kingdom merchants. All the while, Hakoda’s son grew. Sokka was an inquisitive baby, always hungry and always laughing. Bato said he took after Hakoda well. 

Hakoda worried. He worried how the boy would grow up without his mother. He worried that he was not raising him the way a powerful bender should be raised. He worried that the North Pole was not as safe as they believed. Bato told him he worried too much.

They came onto the capital of the Northern Water Tribe in the middle of a Fire Nation siege. Bato admitted that Hakoda might worry the right amount.

They abandoned the ship, Sokka bundled up and strapped to Hakoda’s back, and snuck across the ice floes as flaming boulders crashed into ice walls. The water benders of the Northern Tribe were fighting back, spikes of ice impaling ships, waves sweeping the decks. Archers stood on the edge of the wall and fired. The Fire Nation soldiers dropped and ducked for cover. 

Hakoda had never seen war, not really, not like this.

They reached the foot of the sheer wall.

“We’ll have to scale it,” Bato said. For the first time in his life, Hakoda wished he was a waterbender.

They gathered rope from their packs, tying two lines together to make one long enough, and tied it to Hakoda’s boomerang.

“Funny,” a voice said behind them. “We had the same idea.”

A group of three men dressed in black stood on the ice behind them. They each wore the skull masks of high level fire benders.

Bato drew his sword. “Stay back!”

The leader of the Fire Nation group stepped forward, head tilted to the side. He ignored Bato’s sword as if it was a toy.

“And who might you be? Hmm?”

Hakoda wondered how they must look. Two men dressed in a mixture of Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe clothes, carrying a baby and trying to break into the capital city of the Northern Water Tribe.

Hakoda carefully slid off the harness holding Sokka to his back and put him down on the ice. The baby began to cry.

“We have money,” Hakoda said, thinking about whether to draw his knife from the small of his back or lunge for his boomerang. 

“I don’t care for the money of savages,” the firebender snarled.

Bato came from the side, sword slashing. It cut the firebender’s bending arm to the bone. The man reeled back, trying to staunch the blood while his compatriots fired bouts of flame at Bato. Hakoda lunged for his boomerang grabbing it and rolling before letting it fly. It flew in a wide arc over the firebenders heads and back around to hit the one in the back. His mask fell from his face in a gush of blood and he collapsed to the ice. 

Hakoda caught it on its return and ran over to help Bato with the last firebender. Bato was rolling and weaving to avoid jets of fire but he was clearly on the defensive. The firebender saw Hakoda out of the corner of his eye and fired at him forcing him to jump back.

Hakoda readied to throw his boomerang again when something struck him from the side. The force of the blast knocked him to the ground, his arm badly burned. He tried to get up as the leader of the firebenders, his arm still bleeding, reached down and scooped Sokka up. Black swam in his vision.

“No,” he gasped. 

The firebender ignored him, looking over his head at Bato. “Surrender or the child dies.”

Hakoda heard the sound of a sword clattering to the ground. He tried to breath but the heat sank into his bones, the fire still burning in his blood. Consciousness slipped away from him.

The last things he heard were Bato and the commander speaking.

“Who is this child?”

“He’s the chief’s son.”

Then black overtook him. 

Junior Lieutenant Zhao, one arm bandaged from elbow to wrist and strapped against his chest, held the squalling infant by the scruff of its bundling cloths. He wanted it as far away from him as possible.

“Will you negotiate a surrender for the boy’s life?” Admiral Lu asked.

Chief Arnook, a stony faced tribesman and, as far as Zhao was aware, a non-bender, looked from the infant to Admiral Lu.

“I’ve never seen this babe before in my life.”

Admiral Lu snorted. “My soldiers found two men on the outskirts of your city carrying this child. When questioned, they asserted that he was the chief’s son.”

Arnook blinked slowly. “I don’t know those men either.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I turned him into kindling then?” Zhao snapped.

Arnook flinched. Admiral Lu turned to scowl at Zhao.

“Lieutenant! I’d advise you not to speak out of turn.” He turned back to the chief. “I find it hard to believe that you know nothing about this.”

Arnook raised his chin. “I don’t want to see a child harmed but I will not surrender the city over him. If you do not have the strength to fight us, then I’d advise you to leave instead of resorting to cheap tricks like this.”

The admiral hummed and tugged at his beard. “So you truly will sacrifice your own son?”

“I tell you. He is not my son. As for what you do to him, that will rest on your own conscience.”

“Very well.” The admiral turned in a sweep of his cape and walked briskly toward the exit. He snapped his fingers in Zhao’s direction. “Come, Lieutenant. Bring the boy.”

Zhao’s last glimpse of Arnook was of the chief’s face crumpling in something like regret.

As the crewman rowed Zhao and Admiral Lu back to the ship, Zhao looked down at the ugly thing in his arms.

“Strange. I’ve always heard the savages were sentimental.”

The admiral tutted. “Yes. This Chief Arnook he does impress me. Not only does he repel our attacks but he would let us kill his own child rather than give up his city. Almost like a firebender.”

Zhao frowned. He did not like paying compliments to the Fire Nation’s enemies.

“So should I throw it overboard?”

Admiral Lu’s face contorted with rage. “Did I say we kill the boy? Did I say that?”

Zhao refused to be cowed. “I don’t see what we can do with him when even his own people don’t want him.”

“That’s because you are a short sighted and impulsive fool!”

Because Lu was his superior officer, he couldn’t respond. But when they returned to the Fire Nation and Zhao transferred under General Shu’s command, he planned to answer that slight with an Agni Kai. It would be easy to win, he thought, because if Zhao didn’t know better, he would think the admiral just didn’t like the idea of killing a baby.

Zhao pretended to be cowed, breathing out a jet of fire and dropping his eyes to the floor of the boat. “So what do you propose then?”

The admiral turned back to look up at the great ice walls. “I suspect they do want him, very badly. In a few years, the chief might give in. If not he has other uses.” He turned back to Zhao and smiled. “I think we have a prize worthy of the Fire Lord.” 

When Hakoda woke up, he was in a healing lodge in the center of the Northern Water Tribe’s capital and the Fire Navy ships were retreating.

He looked to Bato who shook his head in shame.

“They let us live like we were nothing but they took him. They took your Sokka.”


	2. a wild and violent sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka, the rejected son of the chief of the Northern Water Tribe and ward of the Fire Lord, joins his prince in the quest for the Avatar
> 
> Katara meets a young airbender named Aang and realizes something she should have figured out a while ago

Sokka didn’t regret joining Zuko in his banishment. Like Uncle Iroh, he didn’t have to but somehow there wasn’t any choice in the matter. Zuko was his friend, his brother, the only person who had ever cared for him in his whole life. Scarred and hurting, there was no way he could abandon him.

Life at sea was still tough. For one, Zuko always woke up with the sun no matter where they were. Sokka had a harder time keeping up as they crisscrossed time zones. Then there was the fact that in the Antarctic during summer the sun hardly ever set and therefore apparently firebenders never slept.

Zuko and half the crew had been going crazy for over a week as they got closer to the South Pole and frankly it was exhausting.

That morning, or what his clock told him was morning since it looked like mid-day, Sokka stepped onto the main deck and found that Zuko and his uncle were already in a shouting match. Or rather, Zuko was shouting and Iroh was trying his best to remain patient.

“We’re wasting time! How am I supposed to defeat the Avatar if you insist on only teaching me the most basic of firebending forms! A six year old could do this!”

Sokka wasn’t sure Zuko’s living practice dummies, the soldiers picking themselves up from the deck, would agree about how easy they were all going on Zuko. Zuko clearly hadn’t been going easy on them.

“Prince Zuko,” Iroh admonished, blowing on his hot tea. “A firm foundation is the surface on which we built our palaces.”

“Don’t talk to me in riddles, old man!” Zuko turned and stomped across the deck, his stupid phoenix tail flapping in the wind. As cold as it was, he was steaming as much as Iroh’s tea. 

Sokka snickered. “I don’t think that one was so hard to follow, Zuko. It’s hardly a riddle when the meaning is obvious.”

Sokka knew this because he and Iroh often got into riddle contests and when Iroh wanted he could be very obscure. When he spoke to Zuko, he actually tried to be clear and concise, he just liked allegories a good deal.

Zuko whipped around. “Sokka!” As if he had just noticed his friend’s arrival on deck. “Where have you been? I needed you here.”

Sokka crossed his arms. “Asleep. In my bunk. Officers are allowed six hours rest a day. I like to take advantage of that.”

Zuko tilted his head up to the sky. “How can you sleep? It’s the middle of the day.”

“Actually, it’s not,” Sokka grumbled. He folded his legs beneath him and knelt on the free cushion beside Iroh’s table. “When was the last time he slept?” He asked Iroh.

Iroh shook his head ruefully. “I’m not sure. I’m only managing because I’ve adapted my body to the restive power of noon time naps.” He smiled and rested a hand on his wide stomach. 

He really was a genial old man but Sokka had read up on his exploits in the war and believed them unlike Zuko. Sure, Iroh liked to take naps but they were seeing the tactical advantage right before their eyes.

“I don’t need to sleep!” Zuko said behind them. He always got annoyed when they ignored him. “So long as the sun is up, I am up!” He turned back to the two midshipman whose turn it was to get beaten up all morning. “Let’s go again.”

“Remember,” Iroh called. “Firebending comes from the breath!”

As Zuko pummeled his men, Sokka turned to more important matters.

“How’s the ship faring?” He asked Iroh. They both knew it was long overdue for repairs but Zuko hated to waste time when they could be scouring the world for a likely dead and gone spiritual figure and they didn’t have much money besides.

“Our engineer tells me it’s holding out but we’ll have to stop and purchase more coal soon. We go through it faster in the cold,” Iroh said. 

Sokka glanced over at Zuko to make sure he wasn’t paying attention before leaning closer. “Can we afford it?”

Iroh made a humming sound which meant ‘not really, no.’

Sokka ran a hand down his face. “I told you we should have captured that merchant ship. We could have sold it at port, supplies and all, made more gold than we could carry.”

Iroh frowned. “That would not have been honorable.”

“What do you mean?” Sokka voice rose in volume and pitch. “We’re at war. Fire Navy ships do it all the time.”

Iroh glanced away. “Watch your foot work, Prince Zuko!” There was a grunt as Zuko faceplanted on the deck, feet swept out from under him. But he got up again quickly, spinning his legs out in a jet of fire.

“Iroh,” Sokka said, voice lower, more under control.

The old general looked back at him and smiled. “Don’t worry so much. It’ll make you too old too soon.” 

Which meant the conversation was over and also that Iroh would send a messenger hawk to his brother and ask for more money. 

Sokka crossed his arms and huffed, annoyed. Sometimes he thought he and Iroh saw eye to eye about the Fire Lord and then there were times like this. When there was an opportunity to be self sufficient, Iroh always shot it down. 

Someone gasped behind Sokka and the sounds of fighting subsided. He turned. Rising up into the sky in the west was a pillar of blue light. It pulsed for a moment then flashed out of existence. 

“Helmsman!” Zuko yelled. “Head a course for that light!” He pointed in the direction of where it had been. His grin was vicious and hungry. “It’s the Avatar. It has to be.”

Iroh was talking about how it was just the celestial lights and Zuko should sit down and have some calming tea but Sokka couldn’t take his eyes off the space between the icebergs where the light had been.

He’d never seen anything like it. Wind rippled across his face, threatening to pull his hair from its top knot. The Avatar? Could he really be there, after so long?

“Oh, fuck me,” he said under his breath. 

For the rest of the day, Sokka poring over the maps of the South Pole. Many of them seemed hopeless out of date, not taking into account the shifting ice floes and the havoc Fire Nation raids had played on the local infrastructure. Sokka tried not to think about that too hard. He didn’t owe them a thing.

He was where he was now because Fire Lord Azulon had taken pity on him when he had been brought back from a raid on the Northern Water Tribe. His father, the chief, had tried to ferry him out of the city but when he’d been captured, the old man had rejected him, preferred that he be killed rather than sacrifice his precious city. Because the Fire Lord was merciful, he deemed to raise Sokka in the Fire Nation so that he could one day take his father’s place and bring the Northern Water Tribe under Fire Nation rule.

He’d been taught that a father who rejected his son did not deserve loyalty and that he could be replaced. Strange that Ozai thought he could get away with that exact crime and still remain the Fire Lord.

Focus, he told himself. You have a hundred year old, fully realized Avatar to defeat so your best friend can go crawling back to his scum of a father.

Huh, maybe that was why Iroh was acting like the light was nothing out of the ordinary?

Still, he had sworn to Zuko years ago that he would always be at his side and back him in any venture. So if Zuko was fighting the Avatar, Sokka was too.

His search of the maps told him they might be heading to the former capital of the Southern Water Tribe Confederation since it was the only habitation in the area of the light. There were sketches of what it had looked like a hundred years ago but Sokka absently wondered what fortifications it would have in the present. His men would have to be prepared and on their guard.

Around midnight, by the clock, the sun was still up and Zuko had been staring out to sea on the observation deck beyond the helm for hours. Iroh came by yawning and clapped a hand on Sokka’s shoulder.

“I’m going to try to get him to sleep.” 

Sokka nodded. His eyes had been slipping closed for the last few minutes. The midnight sun affected him too but not as much. He was due for another six hours of down time.

“Good luck. I don’t think he’ll listen. He’s too fired up.” He smiled to himself. Nice pun.

Iroh grinned back. “I’ll still try my best.”

“You’re a waterbender!” Aang’s face was lit up with delight.

Katara felt herself blushing with pride. “Yeah, sort of.”

“No, that’s super cool,” Aang said. He was practically jumping up and down. “I’ve never had a friend who was a waterbender before and I try to have all kinds of friends.”

Katara laughed. They were friends now? Already? Katara hadn’t had many friends her own age before.

“Well, I’m glad to meet your quota. Even if I barely count as a waterbender.”

“Nah. You’re amazing!”

Katara looked away. “It’s nice of you to say that. But without anyone to teach me, I’ve had to figure it all out on my own.”

“You can’t find a teacher?”

She shook her head. “There haven’t been any waterbenders in the South Pole since before I was born. I didn’t even know I was one until two years ago, after my father had gone off to war.”

Aang’s grin faltered. “Oh, that’s terrible.”

Katara looked down at her boots.

“My brother was supposed to be a powerful waterbender. There was even a prophecy about it. I wish he could have taught me but we lost him when he was just a little baby. The Fire Nation stole him just like they stole my mother.”

Aang placed a hand on her shoulder and she realized she was crying.

“I’m so sorry,” he said as if it was somehow his fault.

Kanna watched the two children talking from the entrance to her tent. The first airbender anyone had seen in a hundred years was in their village after emerging from a glowing ball of ice. She along with the other villagers had seen the beam of light in the sky, one which could only have come from an extremely powerful source. She was beginning to suspect that somehow, some way, Katara had found the Avatar.

She recalled the prophecy her son had received before the birth of his first child. He understood it to mean that his newborn son would be a powerful waterbender and return the Avatar to the world. But Kya had been more particular in reciting the exact wording of the soothsayer. The woman had never said it would be that child, just that Hakoda and Kya would have a waterbender for a child. 

Kanna had tried to teach Katara some of what she’d picked up from the waterbenders growing up, both her good friend and the man she’d been expected to marry were powerful benders, but she wasn’t one herself. She had an inkling that Katara’s power was immense, deep waters running still. Perhaps Katara was the child of the prophecy after all.

If that was the case, it would mean hope for the world and a terrible destiny for her granddaughter. Kanna slipped back into her tent and sat down to rest her tired bones. She thought she would meditate on the matter.

Outside, Katara and Aang decided to go penguin sledding.

At noon, as Sokka trained with his sword on the main deck, Zuko spotted something through his telescope on the observation deck.

A bright flare rose up over the white and blue expanse, winking yellow. It made Sokka feel a little better, knowing that the next clue to the Avatar’s location wasn’t supernatural. He’d always hated magic and woo-woo stuff. 

Sokka lowered his sword, craning his head back to try to see the origins of the flare. Lieutenant Jee decided that was a great moment to body slam Sokka to the metal deck.

“Watch out!” Jee grinned down at Sokka. “Oops, too late.”

Sokka winced touching his tender side. “Fuck off.”

Jee had never liked him. Didn’t like the rank Sokka held over him, didn’t like the favor he held with the prince, didn’t like that he was a Water Tribesman on a Fire Navy ship.

Zuko leaned over the railing of the observation deck. “Sokka! What are you doing laying around? I’ve found the Avatar and his hiding place!”

Sokka got up grumbling. Maybe capturing the Avatar would prove to troglodytes like Jee that he was worthy of his accolades and moreso.

He turned to Jee and smiled as sweetly as he could. “Why don’t you stay on board while we go capture the Avatar?”

“Sokka! Come on!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sokka grumbled and ducked through the hatch to go meet Zuko.

Luckily, Sokka was already garbed for battle. Despite following Zuko into exile, Sokka still was recognized as a guest of the Fire Nation which gave him certain privileges but nearly three years ago Zuko had also appointed him a Keshik, meaning “favored” or “blessed”. As such, Sokka was his official man-at-arms, his bodyguard, and his right hand. It was an archaic concept that had no real role in the modern Fire Nation military and had been largely replaced by the more impersonal Imperial Guards but Zuko was well within his rights as crown prince to appoint one.

In that position, Sokka wore armor that was unique to him. It was mostly black and gray with the only red on the chest plate and helmet, both of which were trimmed with royal gold. The helmet covered his face entirely with two narrow rectangular slits to see out of. It had been a pain to learn to fight in but he was grateful for the added protection it gave him. Both from weapons and to protect his identity. 

At his side, he carried a jian, a double edged straight sword. He and Zuko had trained together under the sword master, Piandao, and while Zuko chose the dual dao, the jian had always seemed more straight forward and yet versatile to Sokka. He’d always imagined himself as having the same qualities.

As the ship cruised into the tiny Water Tribe village, Sokka lined himself up behind Zuko and slightly to his right. Zuko was left handed, however improper that was considered for a prince, and Sokka watched out for his weaker side.

Zuko turned to him. There was a hint of a smile on his face. “So close after so long.”

Sokka nodded. “I believe in you, buddy.”

Zuko grunted, good eye flicking to the men standing in formation around them. The message was clear- don’t get all sappy in front of them. Sokka smirked and put on his helmet. Ready for battle.

The pointed prow of the ship detached and crashed through the minor fortifications of the village and the soldiers descended lead by Zuko himself. Iroh had decided to remain on board. 

Sokka looked around as the villagers, a collection of elderly, women, and children, retreated in fear. None of them looked like Air Nomads. And he would have thought the hiding place of the Avatar would be in better condition. 

Zuko scanned the crowd. “Where is the Avatar?” They remained silent. Zuko grabbed an elderly woman by the arm and shook her. “He would be about her age.” 

The old woman only gasped and Zuko threw her aside, slashing fire through the air after her. Sokka had to look away. Some odd mix of guilt and shame was mixing in his gut. Shame that these people with no warriors, no bravery were his own kind. Guilt that he was part of the group come to terrorize the defenseless.

“Prince-” He started, about to say something about the Avatar clearly not being present. But turning he caught a glimpse of a fast moving object on the snow.

He did a double take. It looked for all the world a small bald person dressed in orange riding an otter-penguin. Zuko’s hearing on his left was worse than his vision especially from behind. He’d never have noticed in time to avoid the little person plowing right into him. But hey that’s what Sokka was there for. 

He grabbed Zuko by the arm and jerked him out of the path of the speeding otter-penguin, drawing his jian. 

Zuko jumped back looking stunned as their new opponent leapt off the back of the penguin with gravity defying grace and whirled a long staff at them. A gust of wind deflected Zuko’s fire blast and the figure stepped forward to plant the staff on the ground. He wore a monk’s habit and the blue tattoos of a master airbender. He also looked like a baby. 

Sokka felt his grip on his sword falter.

“You’re the Avatar?” Zuko asked. “But you’re just a child!”

The kid screwed his face. “And you’re just a teenager.”

Zuko jolted with rage. The snow around him melted. 

Sokka stepped forward. “Kid, if you’re the Avatar you better surrender before we’re forced to burn this place to the ground.” 

“And how do I know you won’t still do it once you have me tied up?”

It was a good point, the kid or what appeared to be a kid, wouldn’t know that they didn’t particularly enjoy burning down villages for the fun of it. Zuko bristled at the insult to his honor anyway. 

“You’d have my word as Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation!”

“Is that supposed to mean a lot?”

“Yes!” This time, Zuko breathed fire.

As a sign of good will, Sokka sheathed his sword and held up his hands. “We promise no funny business. We’re just here for the Avatar.”

The village people behind the boy waited in silence. Finally, he breathed a sigh and held out his wrists. 

“Then you’ve found him.”

Zuko flashed a hungry grin before smothering it and snapping his fingers to signal the soldiers. They fell in line on either side of the Avatar while Zuko himself wrenched the staff from his grip. 

Sokka kept his eyes on the villagers. One of the kids, a girl older than the rest lunged after them only to be caught by an old woman. 

“Aang, no! You can’t!”

The Avatar looked over his shoulder sadly. “It’s okay, Katara. It’ll be alright.”

Sokka felt that familiar twist in his gut. He did not feel even remotely close to being the good guy in that moment. 

On board the ship, Zuko gloated over the staff and gave a speech that sounded suspiciously like the villains’ monologue from “Dance of the Dragons”. The one where the greedy old man captures the young hero and locks him away in a cave so he can never reunite with his long lost love. Zuko as usual did not seem to see the irony in this. 

As the soldiers escorted the Avatar to the brig, Sokka followed Zuko up to the helm. 

“You don’t think,” Sokka asked. “That the rumors are true? That the Avatar can shape shift?”

Zuko considered it. After a moment, he shook his head. 

“No. Why take on the look of an airbender if you didn’t have to? He either he’s incredibly stupid or he doesn’t have any other face to use.”

“But isn’t he supposed to be over a hundred years old? How can he look like… that?”

Zuko’s frown deepened which was an accomplishment in itself. “The Earth Kingdom Avatar did live a long time, didn’t she?”  
Sokka raised an eyebrow. “Kyoshi? Yeah, I remember. Supposedly, she lived to be 230 years old. The scrolls said there were rumors she used some kind of advanced earth bending to do it.”

Zuko shrugged. “Then maybe that’s what he’s done.”

“Yeah.” Sokka wasn’t quite convinced. The kid really did look and act like a kid.

True to their word, the Fire Nation ship turned around and left, it’s trailing plume of smoke and the collapsed ice wall, the only evidence that they had been there. They were heading in the direction of the Fire Nation itself, with the Avatar hidden away inside.

Katara felt like crying but she didn’t let herself. The firebenders had already taken her brother and her mother, and they might as well have taken her father too. They had taken everything from her and now they were going to taking the only hope left in the world. She didn’t want to cry. She wanted to kill them.

She stood at the edge of the ice and stared off into the ocean, anger burning hot inside her against the cold.

“I can’t let them get away with this. They can’t just take him. They’ve taken too much already.”

“They have,” Gran-Gran said from behind her.

Katara turned, surprised. Gran-Gran was holding a packed bag and a bed roll. She smiled at Katara, something sad in her eyes.

“Katara, your father once told me that he would have a waterbender for a child and that child would find the Avatar and help bring peace to the world.”

“But,” Katara stumbled over herself. “That was supposed to be my brother. Not me.”

“But you’re the waterbender. And you’re the one who found the Avatar. Something tells me that you are that destined child. Which means I’m going to have to let you go.”

Now, tears did spring to Katara’s eyes. She had never considered… never even imagined. But Gran-Gran was right. A voice in the back of her mind reminded her that the wise woman had also said the destined child would have a life full of pain and danger.

“I don’t- I don’t know if I’m enough.”

Gran-Gran shook her head. “You are my dear. I know you are.”

Katara ran into her grandmother’s arms and held her tight. Gran-Gran rubbed circles into her back.

“Don’t be afraid,” Gran-Gran whispered. “I believe in you.”

Katara pulled herself away enough to look at Gran-Gran. “But what can I do? I’ll never catch up to that ship.”

Behind them, something let out a deep animal groan. Katara jumped.

The great sky bison Aang had called Appa stomped the snow. Katara smiled. 

“Oh, I hope you can really fly.” 

In the helm, using Iroh’s pai sho table, Zuko laid out the Avatar’s staff. 

“There has to be some kind of mechanism,” Zuko muttered to himself, running his fingers across it.

Sokka crossed his arms. He was feeling strangely uneasy. “Not much of a weapon.”

Zuko glanced at him. “What are you upset about? We captured the Avatar.”

“I know,” Sokka said looking down at his feet and imagining the kid far below them being lead to his cell. “That’s what worries me. It was too easy, don’t you think?”

“Don’t be such a-”

Zuko was cut off by a rumbling in the metal floor. Doors slammed, bodies hit walls, and a rushing hurricane came straight for them.

Sokka managed to draw his sword as the hatch burst open in a gust of wind and the kid Avatar came ricocheting at them.

Sokka swiped in his direction trying to drive him back but the kid did a split in the air and clung to the ceiling like a spider, scuttling over him.

Sokka made a grunt somewhere between horror and disgust while Zuko flipped the pai sho table and retreated with the staff.

“I’m gonna need that back,” the kid said cheerfully. He did a backflip off the ceiling and in doing so kicked a force of wind at Sokka that sent him into the wall.

He fell in a bruised heap, groaning.

“You little son of a bitch!” Zuko shouted. “I’ll burn your stick for that.”

The kid bounced off the wall. “Sorry! And you shouldn’t use language like that.”

He dove through the air like gravity meant nothing and snatched the staff from Zuko’s hand. Then he turned and ran for the open balcony. He unfurled a set of wings from the staff and jumped, gliding into the air.

Zuko being the stupid bastard he was just snarled and gave chase, right into mid-air.

Sokka jumped to his feet, heart in his throat, but luckily Zuko had managed to snag the Avatar’s ankle and the two of them were tumbling to the deck somewhat slowly.

“Fuck me,” he said to himself. This day just went from bad to worse.

Because Sokka, and Zuko to a lesser extent, liked to be prepared for any eventuality the helm was stocked with climbing gear. Sokka wrapped one end of the rope to the observation deck railing and threw the other over the side. He rappelled down to where Zuko and the Avatar were fighting. 

On the main deck, he caught sight of the crew shrinking back from the fight. “Don’t just stand there! Get the Avatar!”

If he’d had time to think, Sokka would have been second guessing the whole ‘get the Avatar’ plan. He would prefer to never go back to the Fire Nation and Ozai and now the Avatar was turning out to be a scary cryptid who would surely eat all their souls. But he wasn’t going to not back Zuko up. That’s what ride-or-die meant.

Only he was afraid this was going to be more of a die type situation.

With a war cry, Sokka ran across the deck at full speed, ducking one of Zuko’s fire blasts and tackling the Avatar. It was inelegant but he needed to get some physical contact since he couldn’t just magic at people.

The kid, all skin and bones under him, crashed in to the deck with a pained grunt. Sokka tried to grapple with him but it was like fighting a snake-eel. The kid formed a ball of howling air around himself and sent Sokka rolling across the deck.

Somewhere in that rolling he heard Zuko snarl and the kid cry out before a tell tale splash. Sokka sat up, head spinning. 

“Did you just throw the Avatar overboard?”

The crew were standing at the edge, craning their heads over. Zuko stood with his head hanging, breathing hard.

Sokka got unsteadily to his feet, feeling a lump on the back of his head. “Weren’t we supposed to be capturing him?”

“Prince Zuko,” one of the crew said, face hidden by a skull mask. “Sir… I think the Avatar’s drowning.”

Zuko whipped around. “What?!”

Above them, a white thing broke from the bank of clouds and crashed down on the deck.

“Hey, assholes!” A young voice yelled. “Give me back the Avatar!”

Sokka was just turning to face this new ridiculousness when the water off the starboard bow began to glow and spin together into a whirlpool.

The Avatar, eyes and tattoos glowing with a blinding light, rose up on a water spout. Yep, very spooky cryptid.

The Avatar swept his hand and a wave washed Zuko and half the soldiers off the deck. The roaring fluffy flying animal picked up on of the midshipman in a paw and threw him after. Meanwhile, there was shouting and water whipping around on the deck.

Sokka turned and saw the young girl from the village on the deck beside the strange creature. She moved her arms and the water moved with her, lunging forward to wrap the soldiers in ice. She was _waterbending_. 

The thought crossed his mind to pull his sword and take her hostage, force the Avatar to surrender.

But a cry of fear distracted him. Zuko was hanging onto the anchor chain with one hand but his grip was slipping. 

Sokka raced across the deck and swung himself down just in time to grab Zuko’s hand. Zuko used his arm as leverage to launch himself onto the deck, punching a fire ball after the Avatar as he retreated on his sky beast.

The snot nosed brat leaned out of the saddle and wiggled his fingers at them.

Zuko screamed in rage and Sokka was worried he was going to melt a hole in the deck.

As Uncle came out, looking tired after his nap, and the firebenders set to melting the ice on the deck, Zuko settled into a long stream of sailor’s curses.

“So I take it things didn’t go well?” Uncle Iroh raised an eyebrow at his nephew.

Sokka rubbed the bump on the back of his head. “I don’t think Zuko’s giving up on his Avatar quest anytime soon.”

He was starting to not like the Avatar himself. He didn’t think he would mind getting him back in the brig. If they could hold him, that was.

“I’ll tell the helmsman to follow that sky bison,” Uncle said giving Sokka a perfunctory pat on the shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think


	3. The Warriors of Kyoshi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I promised Suki and here she is!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who commented and kudos'd, here is more :)
> 
> I'm making a few points with my canon here which is that the series takes place over a whole year rather than six months so summer to summer and Suki has gray eyes, I feel strongly about that! I also plan to sprinkle in some of my headcanons/stuff I made up about Suki/Kyoshi Island and minor OC names that I'm also using in another fic, so stay tuned for that!

Over the next week, they followed the course of the sky bison only to reach an island and see it turning around. West and then East. Again and again. 

Sokka charted it on a map. The pattern was always tilting north. It sent chills down his spine. He hoped they weren’t going where he thought they were going. Regardless, Zuko wasn’t interesting in cutting them off. He didn’t believe a strategist like the Avatar could be predicted. Sokka had more doubts about their adversary. But he didn’t voice them. He wanted to see the North Pole as little as he ever wanted to see the inside of the Royal Palace again.

On Wednesday, they lost sight of the Avatar’s sky bison in a cloud bank and Iroh called time to make port as they passed Ash Island.

It was less an island than a rough outcropping of rocks that formed a shallow and wide harbor, connecting to the mainland by an isthmus only crossable at low tide. For over fifty years, it had served as a refueling and restocking depot for the Fire Navy. Iroh claimed it had some of the worst tea he’d ever tasted.

As they sailed into the sheltered cove, Sokka lowered himself in a rowboat from the back. He was disguised as a grease monkey from the colonies with a thick false beard made from the hair of the war rhinos. He rowed ashore far from where the ship docked among the larger more impressive warships of the fleet.  
He tied the boat up on the beach and sauntered whistling toward the Earth Kingdom town on the other side of the isthmus. Just a lowly crewman on shore leave with coin in his pocket.

He didn’t envy Zuko his task of resupplying the ship on their measly allowance. Not being the prince was much more fun.

In the occupied town, Sokka quickly found the local saloon and started spending money. He ordered a bowl of noodles and lost a game of dice before buying a beer for his opponent, a tradesman just back from a long trip at sea.

“You don’t see too many from the Fire Nation in here,” the man, Cabo, said. “They usually keep to the port.”

Sokka scratched his itchy false beard. The room was hot and dark, crowded with sweaty men puffing on pipes and swallowing cheap liquour down. There was a roar behind them as someone won big at the dice table.

“They all cheat,” he said. “I can’t keep any of my pay when I play with them.”

Cabo laughed. “You ever think you might just be unlucky, son?”

Sokka bristled. He did not like being called ‘son’. “Maybe you cheat too.”

The man kept laughing, clapping Sokka on the back. He took a deep swallow of his beer and licked the foam from his mustache. “You hear the new rumor about the Avatar?”

Sokka had to hide his eagerness. “No. I haven’t heard anything. He’s still dead, isn’t he?”

Cabo shook his head. “Not according to the people I’ve been talking to. I had dinner with a fisherman just last night and you won’t believe what he told me.”

Sokka took a drink, mouth puckering around the sour taste. “I don’t expect to.”

“He said,” Cabo paused rolling his eyes around the room like the rest of his sentence would be there waiting for him. He was drunk. “He said, he saw a sky bender and his flying goat heading straight for Kyoshi Island.”

“A goat?” Sokka asked skeptically.

Cabo nodded enthusiastically. “Yup. That’s what he said. He says he knows all about the sky benders because his great-great grandfather was one and that they had wings. That’s how they flew everywhere. I think I believe him.”

Sokka was torn between running right out of the saloon with his new lead and staying to argue with the man.

“You don’t think they could have flown by bending maybe? Being _air_ benders and all?”

Cabo looked at him cross eyed. “Nobody can bend air. I’ve never seen it.”

Sokka rolled his eyes. “Okay, thanks for the story, buddy.” He stood up reaching into his pocket dropping a few copper coins on the table. “Buy yourself another round. I have to go, my boat’s shipping out.”

As he left the saloon, the sun was setting, lighting the sea up in crimson. And the isthmus had been flooded with high tide. Sokka sat down heavily, annoyed and knowing Zuko wasn’t going to let him live this mistake down. Not for the first time, he wished his Water Tribe blood would have done him some good and at least let him be a water bender.

Katara didn’t appreciate getting trussed up and tied to things every time they met someone new. It just wasn’t nice. Everyone on Kyoshi Island was busy gushing over Aang and she was left sulking in the corner, still rubbing the rope burn on her wrists.

“You know in the histories, being a companion to the Avatar means being specially chosen by the spirits,” a voice said behind her.

Katara turned. It was one of the Kyoshi Warriors. They were hard to tell apart but she was pretty sure this was the girl in charge.

“Really?” She asked. “I never heard of the Avatars having friends.”

The girl nodded seriously. “The Avatar is almost never alone. They partner with an animal guide who many believe is actually the same animal reincarnated in the same cycle as the Avatar. It makes sense when you think about Roku’s dragon dying with him.”

“Oh,” Katara said, her face falling. “You mean they have a pet.”

The girl snorted and nudged Katara with her elbow. “You didn’t let me finish. Or I was rambling a little, but I was getting to the people. Avatars travel the world and visit every nation because they are part of all of them. Along the way, they pick up some of the most powerful benders in the world to train them and aid them in their duties. It’s really fascinating to read about.”

Katara shook her head. “I’m not one of the most powerful benders in the world. I can barely bend at all.”

“The way I hear it you’re the last water bender in the South Pole. That’s worth something.”

Katara felt a pang of guilt in her gut. It wasn’t worth anything but it had cost everything. Her mother’s life for starters.

She turned away from Aang showing off for his fawning legion of eight year old girls. “Sorry, I’m not feeling well. I think I’m going to lie down.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the girl said. “And sorry for tying you up earlier. I’m Suki, by the way.”

Katara forced herself to give Suki a smile. She was only trying to be nice after all.

Sokka did not make it back to the ship until well after dark. Zuko was in a foul mood. 

“Where were you? We should have left hours ago.” He was shirtless under a loose robe, skin flushed like he’d been bending recently.

Sokka looked to Iroh, trying to figure out what had gone on while he was in town. The older man was deep in a game of Pai Sho with himself. He stroked his beard.

“While you were out, we had an encounter with Commander Zhao. He was curious about how our ship was damaged.”

It was a lot of information to take in. “Zhao got promoted?”

Zuko was steaming. “Of course he did. The bastard. Luckily, I was able to prove to him that he’s not the firebender he thinks he is.”

“What?” Sokka whipped his head between Zuko and Uncle.

Iroh carefully placed his white lotus tile in the middle of the board. “My nephew managed to challenge Zhao to an Agni Kai within a five minute conversation.”

“Zuko?!” Sokka’s eyes darted back to Zuko, looking his friend over for fresh burns.

Zuko turned to look out to sea. “I’m fine and Zhao is alive if you care. I couldn’t allow him to continue insulting my honor and I needed to distract him from the Avatar.”

Sokka took that in. Zhao was on the Avatar’s track. Sure, he was a grown man who’d been beaten in a fight by a teenager but Sokka shuddered to think what he would do to the Avatar or that South Pole girl if he ever got his hands on them.

“Speaking of the Avatar,” he said finally. “I have a lead.”

Katara was impatient to leave. She’d filled their bags with produce, washed their dishes and clothes, even her sleeping bag. Aang had given Appa a thorough grooming and he’d rested, snoozing outside the village, for over a day. They were ready to start the next leg of their journey but Aang was showing no interest in moving on. 

She refused to even think about some of her annoyance coming from the fact that Aang wasn’t paying her any attention. Aang was- well he was a child, wasn’t he? She was too grown up for his antics. She didn’t need or want his attention, she just needed to get him to the North Pole.

But he was also the Avatar which meant she probably shouldn’t boss him around. He was the boss, technically so if he said they needed to stay another day. They were staying another day. Even if she was quietly furious.

She’d decided to walk into the hills over the village. Kyoshi island was beautiful, so green and warm though she’d been told it got plenty of snow in the winter. Further out from the village was a large low building. The sign above the door read “The Shrine of the Avatar Kyoshi” in Earth Kingdom script.

As Katara got closer, she heard grunts and muffled thumps coming from inside. She crept up to the open window and looked inside. The Kyoshi Warriors were in full regalia practicing their forms.

A line of three girls worked through a complicated kata in perfect unison while another threw her fan, embedding it in a wooden post already deeply gouged.

In the middle of floor space was a matt where two warriors circled each other. 

They waited, watched then when one of them showed a hesitation in her step the other struck. There were a flurry of jabs, each girl moving swiftly but keeping their feet firmly planted, the moves measured until the rhythm suddenly shifted, one of them, the first to attack, flowed out of the way and used her opponents own momentum to flip her over her hip and send her sprawling on the ground.

After a second, the seriousness of battle drained out of the victor’s face and she burst into a bright smile. “Wow, Le Ki you’re getting better everyday!”

Katara realized this was Suki, the captain. 

Suki helped Le Ki to her feet, clapping her on the shoulder, and began giving her instruction on where she’d gone wrong. Then she glanced over Le Ki’s shoulder and caught sight of Katara. 

Katara blanched and ducked out of sight. Maybe this was not something she was meant to see, the dojo was some distance outside of the village and it was labeled as a shrine, somewhere sacred.

“Katara!” Suki stepped out of the dojo. She was still smiling which was encouraging. “Did you like what you saw?”

Katara nodded. “I’m sorry for spying. It was just- well, it was cool. Where I’m from women don’t fight.”

“Don’t worry about it. We like showing off. It’s what Kyoshi would want.” Suki gestured to the path back to the village. “Would you walk with me?”

“Sure, of course,” Katara said, secretly excited to get to talk to the older girl.

They started off down the path and Katara couldn’t contain herself anymore. “I was watching and I was thinking you moved like earthbenders and then you did this move and I thought that’s just like something Aang would do!”

“Our forms come directly from Kyoshi herself. She was an earthbender first but she always had an affinity for air. Maybe because her mother was an airbender.”

Katara stopped. “Really? You can do that? Have parents from different nations?”

Suki laughed. “Yeah, of course! We have a lot of mixed ancestry here.” She pointed to her eyes and Katara realized for the first time that they weren’t Earth Kingdom green but a gray almost the same shade as Aang’s.

“Wow!” Katara said at a loss for words.

“Kyoshi even took a firebender for a lover,” Suki continued casually.

Katara frowned. “Aang told me that the Fire Nation didn’t use to be evil. That he even had a friend from there. But I find it hard to believe. Firebenders-” She cut herself off, she was getting too close to the white hot ache at her core.

Suki rubbed a hand sympathetically across her shoulders. “I know. It’s almost everyday that we hear some new horrible news from the war front and it’s been like this for over a hundred years. The world’s been out of balance without the Avatar. But none of the nations are inherently evil and evil people can come from anywhere.” She paused as if considering her next words. “It was a bandit from the Earth Kingdom who killed my father.”

Katara gasped. “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay. I was only a baby when he died. I don’t remember him but my mother used to tell me stories about him.”

Katara caught the past tense. It seemed today was going to be the day they dredged up old trauma.

“And your mother?”

Suki swallowed thickly and looked away. “Her, I remember. A plague swept through here a few years ago, it took her with it.” She gave an ironic smile. “She was upset that she didn’t go down fighting. That’s how she wanted to die.”

Katara sniffled. “I’m sorry. I think my mother wanted the opposite but she died to protect me.” Her fists clenched, anger returning. “That’s why I have to help Aang defeat the Fire Lord!”

Suki gave her a look she couldn’t read. “He’ll need your help. He’ll need a lot of help.”

The ship arrived in the harbor of Kyoshi Island at sunset. Sokka was worried that the Avatar would have already moved on but Zuko quickly spotted the bald monk through his telescope.

“Suit up!” He yelled to the crew. “Take the rhinos! We’ll smoke him out.”

Sokka donned his helmet. The wooden buildings would burn worse than the igloos of the South Pole. He tried not to think about that.

They marched up the sand and into the village which looked deserted. 

“Where is everyone?” Sokka asked. He didn’t like the look of it. The buildings were too close, there were too many shadows. The perfect place for an ambush.

Zuko ignored him, stepping forward. “Avatar! I know you’re here! Come out and face me or I’ll burn this place to the ground!”

An orange shape emerged from the trees and landed in the center of the road. The Avatar planted his staff with a flourish and puffed out his chest, trying to look like something more than a child.

“Looking for me?”

Before they could move, Sokka was tackled from the side.The figure in green was too close for him to draw his sword. He deflected a few blows with his forearms but they got him with a straight fingered jab to the kidneys. He gasped then grabbed their green tunic, pulling them close to smash in the face with his helmet.

He got to his feet, breathing hard and holding his side. They were surrounded by a miniature army of female warriors, dressed in the image of the Kyoshi statue that loomed above them.

Zuko had three circling him. His fire blasts were keeping them from getting any closer but they were deflecting enough of the heat with their golden fans to keep from being driven back altogether.

“Burn it!” Zuko yelled, his phoenix tail flapping. “Burn the village!”

Their soldiers had a difficult time lighting the roofs on fire while defending themselves but it divided their opponents attention too. The Kyoshi Warriors didn’t want to see their village destroyed. The Fire Nation didn’t have the same problem.

“Keshik!” Zuko called to Sokka. “Cover me, I have to go after the Avatar!”

Sokka nodded, drawing his jian. He dove at the warrior to Zuko’s right, driving her back enough for Zuko to slip away and chase the Avatar.

Sokka found himself fighting three warriors, twisting and turning wildly to block their fan strikes with his sword. Sparks flew as the village burned around him.

They didn’t fight like the Fire Nation. He wasn’t used to being so defensive. They circled and waited, letting him over extend himself and then attacking his weakness. It was a war of attrition, they were letting him tire himself out while they snapped forward to bruise and cut him.

He swore in frustration. “Just come on and fight me!”

“We are,” the girl he’d smashed in the face said, blood trickled down her white painted face. “Or are you just not used to losing to a girl?”

Actually, he was. He’d grown up around Azula and her friends, after all, but he wasn’t going to explain that to her.

He swung at her, feinting right so he could dive to the left, rolling and coming up behind her so her comrades weren’t at his back.

“That’s the thing. I’m not losing,” he said.

He swung low, at her legs but she jumped just in time and landed with both feet on the blade yanking the sword out of his hand.

“Looks like you are.”

He ducked out of the way of a punch to the head and grabbed her arm, trying to flip her over his shoulder. “No, I’m not!”

She tangled her legs with his and brought them both to the ground. She landed on top and started twisting his arm into a painful lock. “You ready to give up?” She teased.

“No!” He shouted, feeling like he needed a better response. He supposed an elbow to the throat was a good enough rebuttal.

She fell off him gasping and he crawled across the ground for his sword. When he got to his feet and turned around, she was gone.

Zuko came running down the road, pointing above them. “The Avatar’s getting away! After him!”

Sokka followed him, the whole crew following in around them as they raced back to the ship to give chase, leaving Kyoshi Island burning behind them.

As they made it out into the harbor, Sokka breathed a sigh of relief when the Avatar rode a giant sea serpent and got it to spray water onto the burning buildings. That relief evaporated when the serpent dove at them.

They had to repel it with a missile from the trebuchet. Then, they were out at sea again, following the white spot of the retreating sky bison.

Sokka sat down on the deck and took his helmet off, trying to breath around his aching ribs. Zuko paced in front of him, cursing, and working himself up into another fine frenzy. 

Completely unbidden a thought crossed his mind. “What a woman.”

Katara wet a cloth from her water flask and handed it to Suki. “Here.”

“Thanks,” Suki said, her voice raspy. Katara winced at the bruise she could see forming on her throat. Suki wiped away the blood from her nose and held the cloth against her swollen lip.

Katara looked down at her hands twisting in her lap, feeling awful. “I wish I could do more. You shouldn’t have to come with us.”

Suki nudged her knee with a foot. “Don’t worry about it, kid. I figured you needed some supervision and anyways, Kyoshi Island has stayed out of this war for far too long.”

Aang had gone all melancholy after seeing the destruction they had brought to the island but now he turned around from his perch on Appa’s neck and gave them a brave smile.

“I promise you won’t regret it. This is the fun cruise!”

Katara looked over the edge of the saddle down at the black ship following them way below. Yeah, she thought, unlike them. She didn’t think the Fire Nation was allowed to have any fun.


End file.
